Gamer files Mass Effect 3 endings complaint to the FTC

18 Mar 2012 by John Robertson

The Mass Effect 3 ending saga continues today with news that one of the disgruntled fans has now filed an FTC (Federal Trade Commission) complaint against Bioware and EA for what some fans consider poor endings to the game.
There as been quite a movement by the community wanting to 'Take Back Mass Effect 3' but is this latest news just going too far?
On Friday Executive Producer Casey Hudson addressed the concerns about the ending but some fans have complained about the timing of his statement arriving late on a Friday night claiming it was released at then to avoid news coverage.
The FTC complaint has been filed by a Bioware forum member called El_Spiko who is busy trying to rally the troops. His post reads as follows:
Against EA. After reading through the list of promises about the ending of the game they made in their advertising campaign and PR interviews, it was clear that the product we got did not live up to any of those claims. This thread has a great compilation of their claims:

Clearly, none fo these were represented in the ending. If anyone else wishes to file a complaint (the more there are the more likely the FTC will take action) just go to FTC.gov and fill out a complaint form in the Consumer Protection section. Here's EA HQ's address and phone number:209 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood City, CA 94065(650) 628-1500

This is not somethign I was happy to do, but after the terrible ending that was in no way the product that had been advertised to me and the lack of any kind of response from Bioware/EA to address this, I felt it was one of my only recourses. I'll be returning my copy of the game before the end of my 30 day return policy if the ending still hasn't been addressed by then.

UPDATE: Filed a Better Business Bureau complaint as well. They can be found at BBB.org. The BBB will at the very least notify EA of any complaints they recieve, so every complaint filed is something that EA will hear about.

DISCLAIMER: Before you start debating how dumb I am, let me be clear. THIS IS NOT A LAWSUIT. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS LEGAL ACTION. This is a complaint about EA/Bioware's advertising, filed with the the organizations that handle false advertising in the U.S. As EA is the publisher, they were the appropriate people to complain about. If you don't think that exercising one of the few, civil, legal ways available to hold a company accountable is stupid or immature, that's fine. If somehow (space magic?) they actually decided to do something other than send EA an email about it, there would be a miniscule fine, that's it. There is no way that this could "tear bioware apart" or anything of the sort. If you still think I need to be called stupid or immature, then post away.
It doesn't lool like the complaints are going to go away any time soon, but is it unreasonable to request a different ending? After all, when LOST finished on TV I was completely dissatisfied with the ending but I wasn't compelled to write in about it, and I certainly invested a lot more hours in that than I have in ME3. Damn you LOST!

The Mass Effect 3 ending saga continues today with news that one of the disgruntled fans has now filed an FTC (Federal Trade Commission) complaint against Bioware and EA for what some fans consider poor endings to the game.
There as been quite a movement by the community wanting to ‘Take Back Mass Effect 3′ but is this latest news just going too far?
On Friday Executive Producer Casey Hudson addressed the concerns about the ending but some fans have complained about the timing of his statement arriving late on a Friday night claiming it was released at then to avoid news coverage.
The FTC complaint has been filed by a Bioware forum member called El_Spiko who is busy trying to rally the troops. His post reads as follows:
Against EA. After reading through the list of promises about the ending of the game they made in their advertising campaign and PR interviews, it was clear that the product we got did not live up to any of those claims. This thread has a great compilation of their claims:

Clearly, none fo these were represented in the ending. If anyone else wishes to file a complaint (the more there are the more likely the FTC will take action) just go to FTC.gov and fill out a complaint form in the Consumer Protection section. Here’s EA HQ’s address and phone number:209 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood City, CA 94065(650) 628-1500

This is not somethign I was happy to do, but after the terrible ending that was in no way the product that had been advertised to me and the lack of any kind of response from Bioware/EA to address this, I felt it was one of my only recourses. I’ll be returning my copy of the game before the end of my 30 day return policy if the ending still hasn’t been addressed by then.

UPDATE: Filed a Better Business Bureau complaint as well. They can be found at BBB.org. The BBB will at the very least notify EA of any complaints they recieve, so every complaint filed is something that EA will hear about.

DISCLAIMER: Before you start debating how dumb I am, let me be clear. THIS IS NOT A LAWSUIT. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS LEGAL ACTION. This is a complaint about EA/Bioware’s advertising, filed with the the organizations that handle false advertising in the U.S. As EA is the publisher, they were the appropriate people to complain about. If you don’t think that exercising one of the few, civil, legal ways available to hold a company accountable is stupid or immature, that’s fine. If somehow (space magic?) they actually decided to do something other than send EA an email about it, there would be a miniscule fine, that’s it. There is no way that this could “tear bioware apart” or anything of the sort. If you still think I need to be called stupid or immature, then post away.
It doesn’t lool like the complaints are going to go away any time soon, but is it unreasonable to request a different ending? After all, when LOST finished on TV I was completely dissatisfied with the ending but I wasn’t compelled to write in about it, and I certainly invested a lot more hours in that than I have in ME3. Damn you LOST!

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